good weekend in the Z

Jaw

Active member
Had a great day of tinkering with the M today. Despite the constant frequent rainstorms..


First up a mid-schedule oil change. This irritated me. BMW charged me $190 for oil. On draining it, it filled up one bottle of 5 litre Castrol PERFECTLY. which leads me to believe that they in fact only put 5 litres of oil in, and charged me for 10. I paid $180 odd for 10 litres from my nearest autofactor style joint. That aside, felt good to have a tinker on something other than the track car.

My steering wheel plastics are shagged, so I stripped the wheel down with a view to painting them but the rubber wasn't providing easy, may have to nab some replacements. Also had a play with the steering, the right wheel seems to be trakcking in wards for some reason.

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Then a few hours of polishing, running, buffing and whatnot. Got out the orbital and decided to give a full wash, clay, strip, polish and wax. Only phone photos, really don't do it justice, I LOVE silver grey when it's clean, such a deceptively beautiful colour.

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reflections weren't quite as crystal as I hoped so gave another round of slightly more aggressive polishing:

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also gave the bay a full going over, forgot to take finished photos though :)

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followed by a run in the hills with a 911 gt3(996) and part two with a load of renaultsports, a vantage and a GT3 (photos to follow) tomorrow. It amazes me how fast my mate's clio 200 is in the twisty stuff so looking forwards to that, but also amazes me how capable the z is. The top gear video sums it up, point it at a corner,grab it by the scruff off the neck, and put some power through the back wheels. Hearing the engine screaming at 8000 odd rpm through the rpi, traction control light giving me a siezure.

Race chrono on android (yeah, isn't going to be the most accurate thing in the world I know!) but it showed my 0-100 as 4.6, and regardless of what it was, the 996 wasn't going anywhere. It looked composed in the corners, wasn't particularly any quicker though. Been a great weekend with the Z and stacking it up against some 'more serious' machinery really makes you realise how capable the beasts are :D Getting her up on the stands also got me thinking about going the mod route again instead of selling (untill the yo yo spins round again..)

Anyone else been having an M filled weekend? Any photos of a good cruise?
 
Mine next to a Club Racer Elise. Mixed feelings about these. Sub 900kg making it the lightest car out on sunday, but still manage to be slow in a straight line due to the 1.6. good god do they carry some speed through the bends though - two seater go carts. Sound very nice too

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vantage, elise and lots of renaultsports. It's funny, I have always loved the aston, loved driving the old one about in the UK, but seeing it parked up next to the Z didn't fill me with as much nostalgia and envy as I thought it would have. They sound godly, but didn't seem to be any quicker than the zed in a straight line or in the twisties, less sense of drama. That front end is one of the best though, looked great in the rearview :D

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Photo from a renaultsport clio 200 driven by mate - amazingly capable cars in the twisty stuff!

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the crew..

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1000 kms later..
 
Nice job detailing! Great shot of the other cars and nice how you can compare in real life!
 
May i ask if that extra horizontal steel strut brace make any material difference to handling ? I thought the MR was fairly stiff in standard spec anyway .
 
just took my HT off and am really enjoying roof down motoring, forgot how much i can hear the blower, the car feels so much fun!! looking forward to getting to the track thursday if possible to see if the weight reduction helps / the added drag slows me down, one thing iw ill say I'm reminded right now why i love roadster ownership so much.
 
Beedub said:
just took my HT off and am really enjoying roof down motoring, forgot how much i can hear the blower, the car feels so much fun!! looking forward to getting to the track thursday if possible to see if the weight reduction helps / the added drag slows me down, one thing iw ill say I'm reminded right now why i love roadster ownership so much.

So true. We got a break in the rain so I dropped the roof before the real twisty bit and it just makes the day for me. Then I look at the dude in the lotus got soaked because he didn't have the convenience of having the roof on in 30 seconds :rofl: Top down cruising makes the M complete imo, can hear every pop and the induction roar unencumbered :) being right over the rear axle with no roof you can feel the car scrabbling for grip as you put the power down in a corner as if you could almost reach out and use your arm to stop you hitting a tree sideways.

Went to view a demo 4c in my quest for a replacement candidate, and although I didn't drive it, I couldn't see a lightweight roofed 4 pot providing the same thrills.

I bet the sound of the blower added to the mix is really something!


Mad Professor said:
May i ask if that extra horizontal steel strut brace make any material difference to handling ? I thought the MR was fairly stiff in standard spec anyway .

It's stiff but I honestly feel the front end is sooo much more communicative with it on. The wheels / supersports help that too I suppose but considering I haven't changed the suspension, I find turn in especially quite a lot sharper, which seems to make it feel more settled through the entire corner, and responsive when you have to flick over. Never know, It's not like I checked the toruqe of the nuts before I installed it, something could have been amiss before I installed it, but I've found a positive difference :)

Fast3000 said:
Nice job detailing! Great shot of the other cars and nice how you can compare in real life!

Cheers :) it always feels that bit more special when it's shiny! Was late by the time I finished so missed a bit though :headbang:
 
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